It's time once again to support your favorite open source project through our Free Vote-Based Advertising for Open Source Projects. We are clearing the leader boards to start the first half of 2011 anew.

Ad Requirements

It must be an advertisement soliciting the participation and contribution of programmers writing actual source code. This is not intended as a general purpose ad for consumer products which just happen to be open source. It's for finding programmers who will help contribute code or other programmery things (documentation, code review, bug fixes, etc.).

Your ad should be an original creation which has not previously appeared on Stack Overflow. Please do not resubmit entries that have appeared as ads on Stack Overflow in previous periods.

In order to work, the answers you post to this question must conform to the following rules.

Answer Template

[![Tagline to show on mouseover][1]][2]
[1]: http://image-url
[2]: http://clickthrough-url

Please do not add anything else to the body of the post. If you want to add any commentary, keep it in the comments.

Image requirements

The image that you create must be 220 pixels by 250 pixels

Can be hosted anywhere (tinypic, twitpic, your blog); we will mirror the image locally when we serve it.

Must be GIF or PNG

No animated GIFs

Absolute limit on file size of 150 KB

The output, which ultimately will be served in an ad slot on Stack Overflow, can be previewed by clicking through to this URL:

Score Threshold

There is a minimum score threshold an answer must meet (currently 6) before it will be served up by that URL and shown on Stack Overflow. You can see all the ads that currently make the threshold and meet our criteria on this page:

This question has been asked before and already has an answer. If those answers do not fully address your question, please ask a new question.

4

Is there a license requirement for the ads? Can we assume the images are under the same CC license as the rest of the SO content? (I'm asking for reusability in other FLOSS ad networks.)
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marioJan 14 '11 at 19:56

I figured you were. FLOSS is the name of a podcast on the This Week In Tech network, check out twit.tv/floss
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jcolebrandJan 14 '11 at 20:07

3

@mario: As the original owner of the material (Licensor), you are allowed to post your ad on other networks WITHOUT attribution (i.e. "Licensor reserves the right to release the Work under different license terms...", Section 7(b) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/legalcode). But that only applies to you. Everyone else would have to provide attribution if they re-posted your ad. And yes, all user-contributed content is licensed under CC BY-SA for reuse (with attribution), including the ads.
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Robert Cartaino♦Jan 14 '11 at 20:33

4

I noticed the format for the ad uses the alt text space for the title text. Shouldn't we use the title text for the erm... title text? Some browsers do not show the alt text when you mouseover the image.
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Yi JiangJan 15 '11 at 5:09

1

Indeed, the template is wrong. In sane browsers, the alt text is NOT shown on mouse over. And even when shown by non-compliant browsers, the alt should be describing what is missing, not some tag line. So maybe it should be labeled "The text used on browsers that don't support images" (like by readers used by visually impaired). If a mouse over is wanted too, then besides the alt attribute, the title should be specified as well, after the image or link URL. Like: [1]: http://image-url "Tagline to show on mouseover"
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ArjanJan 16 '11 at 13:14

@Rebecca: Can you please clarify something as there seems to be a bit of confusion: some of the ads were posted in the previous threads, but never got the 6-vote threshold and therefore were never shown. It was understood last time that the ads that didn't make the cut were allowed to be reposted the next time around. Could we please have some clarification?
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uɐɯsO uɐɥʇɐNJan 16 '11 at 23:42

@mario: See this tool for an easy way to do that.
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uɐɯsO uɐɥʇɐNJan 17 '11 at 0:39

7

Note: As with previous iterations of this program, entries that have appeared as ads in previous periods are not eligible; however, previous entries that did not meet the minimum score threshold can be resubmitted.
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Rebecca ChernoffJan 17 '11 at 18:25

Really once more. +1 for the great idea!
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Lukas EderFeb 5 '11 at 15:15

Although I'm using the image button to upload, I stackoverflow does not take my proposal. It keeps saying: "Community ads must have an image hosted at imgur.com - use the image button to upload". What's the problem with that?
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StevenMay 26 '11 at 15:05

Copyrights and trademarks. The likeness of mario would be protected by trademark as well.
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Dan GrossmanJan 22 '11 at 9:44

1

Wouldn't this only violate copyright only if it actually copies graphics/words rather than just the ideas? You can't copyright all instances of "a castle next to a flag on a pole". I don't know how trademarks apply in this case. (Ah, I see the original version did copy Mario's image.)
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Fred NurkFeb 4 '11 at 15:20

@R.Bemrose: Then that graphic should be replaced as well.
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Fred NurkMar 10 '11 at 22:40

Aren't you allowed to use ideas artistically/humorously, even if they're trademarked? Also, no money is being made off of this, since it's an open source project. I don't think there's any need to change it further unless Nintendo actually threatens legal action. Don't let the big, scary companies bully you!
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DogmatixedDec 5 '11 at 12:44

Tux4Kids develops educational software (videogames) for kids, with the goal of combining fun and learning into an irresistable package. We've just finished a grand overhaul through the Google Code-in programme and are looking for developers and graphic artists to help out with further development.
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aviraldgJan 24 '11 at 16:44

There is only one problem with this Ad. Currently there are much more users willing to contribute to Boost and too few developers who actually want to be a review manager. So contributing is veeeery hard.
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ArtyomJan 22 '11 at 14:10

2

As an ad, it would be more effective if it told you what Boost is.
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lalaJan 24 '11 at 8:28

@lala I might change the design a bit to add a simple description. Thanks for the suggestion :)
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AraKJan 24 '11 at 8:50

1

@AraK Just as a tip for you to take or leave: Tell us what it solves. For example, increase_c++_productivity(); instead of just become_booster();
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lalaJan 24 '11 at 19:16

2

This image is 220x200 pixels. It has to be be 220x220.
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balpha♦Jan 29 '11 at 14:46

3

When I first saw this, I didn't notice the sideways C. I read it as boost++ and thought it was some kind of enhancement to boost.
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FerruccioMar 10 '11 at 12:43

Using Zeitgeist you can keep a log of all the files you opened with exact times, create statistics, learn your workflow and make yourself more efficient. Zeitgeist does not log only files but any activity or event like receiving calls, dropping calls, starting a track in your favorite media player. The possibilities are immense. The sky is the limit.
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Manish SinhaJan 23 '11 at 9:12

Comic Sans was a fine font when originally created. Now it's everywhere and speaks "amateur." Still I'm upvoting this -- once upon a time I wrote a small CMS in C. Fun it was not, young Skywalker, but I have fond memories of its performance.
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Leonardo HerreraJan 24 '11 at 17:29

1

@Leonardo The problem in writing any kind of web application in C++ (and in C) is lack of good tools. C++ gives many goodies making programming fast and easy while CppCMS provides good web-development tools.
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ArtyomJan 24 '11 at 17:50

@Artyom Given that the context is an advertisement that will be served hundreds of thousands of time on a site for professionals, I don't think Comic Sans is 'fine'.
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Yi JiangJan 25 '11 at 7:21

Helps students/everyone memorize languages or anything that you could learn with paper flashcards. UI=Android, database=SQLite, sync with PC=REST. Efficient collaboration with Git. We welcome everyone and share privileges very quickly. Very open development processes, everything is public.
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Nicolas RaoulJan 29 '11 at 9:46

1

I don't have enough rep to vote this up, but AnkiDroid is a piece of open source software that I use everyday.
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user138168Jan 29 '11 at 20:06

Chris S: The spaced repetition system is based on an older version of the SuperMemo algorithm called SM2. Subsequent versions of SuperMemo have managed to squeeze out a little more learning efficiency, but they come at the cost of greatly increased complexity, and they are more susceptible to scheduling errors in real-world use. We want to stay 100% compatible with "Anki", the desktop PC version, which is using this algorithm. Thanks for your interest!
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Nicolas RaoulJan 31 '11 at 0:45

Do you have a version in a lossless format (ie. png)? The jpeg compression artefacts are clearly visible here.
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Yi JiangJan 20 '11 at 16:57

@Yi Jiang: no, unfortunately the MantisBT logo is available only in raster format.
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Robert MunteanuJan 20 '11 at 18:48

6

You're confusing raster vs. vector with lossy vs lossless here - raster formats like png can also be lossless. The jpeg compression is too high here, so you see significant artefacts around the text. Oh, and I forgot to add, this advertisement is slightly too small to meet the requirements. It should be possible to process away some of the artefacts, but you'll also need to scale it up to 220x220, as stated in the question above.
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Yi JiangJan 20 '11 at 18:52

Call me confused, but is this an ad for me to download and use the application or to become and active coder on it? It clicked through to the project main page without any usable binaries so I was left confused and disappointed. Maybe the ad should go to some kind of landing page helping me to understand what you want me to do after clicking the ad.
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Frazell ThomasJan 28 '11 at 2:27

@GnomeSlice thanks but no. I need a software solution / API that I can integrate into my own CMS to upload large files to my server.
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augustinMar 15 '11 at 6:18

@George - The link is pointing at the right place according to the guidelines, but this does look like an ad inviting the user to download and use the application. Putting "Open Source" or "Developers Wanted" somewhere on the ad would be appropriate.
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Kevin VermeerMar 28 '11 at 21:53

@reem: Hmmm... I'll see what I can do.
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uɐɯsO uɐɥʇɐNMar 31 '11 at 1:11

I have been looking for a wrapper similar to the great C#/.NET wrappers for FogBugz - but alas, not found one. The primary reason for building this was to submit crash dumps to fogbugz with file attachments. The BugzScout tool won't support file attachments and the email interface is not reliable on all client machines and I want to have "Scout" functionality. Initial implementation is limited - only creates a simple case.
–
timJan 23 '11 at 17:10

and a down-vote without a comment...! That's not cool (+1 for the lost vote)
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LipisJan 24 '11 at 0:41

For those who are curious about what I might like in an ad/graphics - nothing special - anything that strikes your fancy. I don't see trademarks for FogBugz or the kiwi for tha matter - though i might ask Fog Creek about it if they would mind at all to add that as part of the theme. C++ and something that evokes FogBuzg is all it takes. And I do appreciate that the graphic is horrible. I will withdraw the submission if I don't find a suitable graphic - it would not be appropriate - I know the team at SO has spent a lot ot time and energy on making the site look good. thanks
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timJan 24 '11 at 4:08

And yes, Yi, it does look really bad. You don't have to be polite about it. :-)
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timJan 24 '11 at 4:09

1

You have Fog Creek's permission to use our logo and name in advertising this project.
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Michael PryorJan 24 '11 at 15:54

1

tim: I hope you don't mind; I tried my hand out at making an ad for you. Revert it if you don't like it.
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aviraldgJan 24 '11 at 16:46

One area for improvement for those interested: the assembly code generated is SLOW due to the nature of the assembly generating code. In fact, I tested a 7Basic snippet against an equivalent C program and the performance ratio was 80:1!
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uɐɯsO uɐɥʇɐNJan 24 '11 at 1:00

+1 Maybe "Web service" is ambiguous? It is a web interface for humans, not WSDL-like, as far as I know?
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Nicolas RaoulFeb 4 '11 at 9:24

That's a good point, thanks! We've updated the wording on the ad.
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chrismearFeb 8 '11 at 20:54

1

Seems interesting, but clicking the ad just takes you to a git repository. I guess that's okay on StackOverflow.com, but if the ad is posted anywhere else people will expect to see an actual web site.
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CalebMar 27 '11 at 18:27

Yup, we are only using this ad on Stack Overflow -- it's specifically designed for programmers!
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chrismearApr 20 '11 at 13:37

@Chris, that's an awesome sign in your kitchen! Well the name's not necessarily bad, I just guess people are looking for a reason why you chose it. So it's enough for you to come up with any reason. You may use my suggestion with the casualties :-)
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Lukas EderMar 21 '11 at 8:36